Back in 2011, Robert Downey Jr. used an award acceptance speech to ask people to forgive Mel Gibson — and now, rumor has it, he's pushing hard to get Gibson and their friend Jodie Foster into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Downey Jr. is probably the single most valuable actor in the Marvel cast at this point, and he was not only able to command a huge salary to come back for two Avengers sequels, he also reportedly served as a kind of quarterback for the other Avengers stars. So he might have the clout to demand roles for his friends, at this point. Although maybe not Gibson.

A report in Radar Online, from last week, quotes an unnamed source as saying:

Robert is raising eyebrows with his efforts on behalf of his longtime best pals Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson... He wants to bring Mel and Jodie into the Marvel universe, preferably in one of the Avengers
films. It's been a longtime dream of Robert's to help Mel and Jodie
reach similar big box office heights like the ones he's achieved in
recent years.

But the source also noted that while Foster might be able to get a role in one of the Avengers movies, it's unlikely that Gibson could get in after his widely reported antisemitic comments. "Marvel is run by one of the richest and most prominent Israeli
businessmen in Hollywood, and you can be sure even if Robert got down on
his knees and begged, there's no place for Mel in the Marvel films."